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The Home Stretch?

We’d like to apologize to all the subcontractors and suppliers in the Anna Maria Island area who have been yelled at this week by our builder, John Agnelli, for not measuring correctly or delivering less than the full order.

We’d like to apologize—but we can’t. The only prayer we have that our house will be (nearly) completed by Saturday when we arrive is that John continues to act like a human steamroller. He’s relentless. He never sleeps. He mows down every obstacle in his path. We love him.

Here, collected from the dozens of phone calls we’ve received since Friday afternoon, are a sampling of the snafus for which John has made grown men (and women) cry.

The stove hood didn’t fit. We ordered a 42-inch hood (because it has the power to handle our 36-inch Wolf range. We don’t understand why a 36-inch hood won’t handle a 36-inch range. But, we have long ago stopped asking questions about things like this.) Alas, the cabinet people gave us cabinets assuming the range would be 36 inches. As a result, the hood didn’t fit.

John stewed about the problem for a day, then ripped out the upper cabinets and ordered new, smaller ones to fit the bigger hood. The new cabinets will be in by Friday. We’re not being charged for them.

Some light fixtures are missing. We knew from our lighting store Lyteworks that some key fixtures—including the foyer and the dining area—might come in late, but we were surprised to hear from John on Tuesday that a lot more are AWOL, including those for the lanai and front porch. He’s vowed to hunt them down, and may make some substitutions if necessary.

The bathroom sinks were too big. Another measurement problem? We’d specified 15” x 19” oval Kohler sinks, but when the backsplash and faucets were factored in, the sinks wouldn’t fit. So John did some fancy footwork—and math—and figured out that a 14×17” sink would solve the problem. He got his plumbing supply guy to get new sinks in, fast.

Countertops are delayed. Actually, this problem seems to have been resolved, mainly because John called the granite yard and shouted at the boss that, unless “they move their butts” (we have cleaned up his language just a tad), he would never work with them again. Originally, all the countertops were supposed to be installed last Friday—and, indeed, the kitchen countertops were delivered as promised. But the three bath counters were mysteriously delayed for another week. When we spoke to John yesterday, he said that the bath countertops would, in fact, be installed today or tomorrow.

Mirrors are maddening. John is installing large plate glass mirrors above the vanities in the two guest bathrooms. But he has to wait until the countertops are in before he can measure for the mirrors. So we may have sinks without mirrors, at least for a few days. (In the master bathroom and powder room we’ve ordered medicine cabinets—which come with mirrors—and they’ve arrived.)

Carpeting is kooky. We chose one brand of carpeting, and John placed the order a month or so ago. But although carpeting for the three guest bedrooms will be in today or tomorrow, the carpet for the master bedroom won’t be installed until next Wednesday, and the office won’t be done until next Friday. No one seems sure why. Guess we’ll learn to love plywood in the meantime.

These are only the big problems, the ones that John felt important enough to share with us—there are probably hundreds of others. Think the house will be habitable by this weekend? Our money’s on John.

“We’d like to apologize—but we can’t. The only prayer we have that our house will be (nearly) completed by Saturday when we arrive is that John continues to act like a human steamroller. He’s relentless. He never sleeps. He mows down every obstacle in his path. We love him.”

I think the house is inhabitable now, with all of those things that you’ve said aren’t quite done yet. So you don’t have bathroom sinks or mirrors. Not a crisis, I’m sure you’ll all get a good laugh out of having to brush your teeth in the shower or the kitchen sink. Try renovating a 2 bed 1 bath apartment in NYC while you still live there and you’ll learn real quick that a sink is a sink is a sink! Teeth can get brushed in the kitchen and lettuce can get washed in the bathroom, it’s all just water. The more important question as I see it is, will you have the C of O by April 1, and I think the answer depends upon how time lagged this blog is, and how much you are willing to compromise with the final finishings.

We are anxious to see pictures! I am not sure what the rush is for you to be in the house (with guests) while they are finishing it. I wouldn’t go down there until May, when everything is completely done and I don’t have to worry about getting splinters in my feet from plywood floors. But that’s just me :-)

John may not be charging you for all these issues, but I hope you pay him for them. Unless I misunderstand the terms of your agreement with him (which is entirely possible), if you chose–and specified the sizes of–the sinks, faucets, countertops, and backsplashes, and they don’t work together, it’s your fault and your responsibility to order and pay for new ones. And if you didn’t tell the store where you bought your kitchen cabinets that you were getting an extra-wide range hood, but simply told them that you’d have a 36″ wide range, it’s not the store’s fault or John’s fault that you only ended up with space for a 36″ hood. (It would have been nice for the salesman/kitchen planner to ask you about the hood, but getting that kind of service requires some due diligence on your part, too.)

If John gets substitute lighting for the lanai and front porch, will you pay for the originals and the substitutions? Will you pay John to remove the substitutes when your chosen ones come in? What will you then do with the extras? (A basic tenet of being green is *not being wasteful*.) If you find yourself with extra fixtures, please don’t throw them out in the garbage–sell them on craigslist, or give them away to someone who will use them, please.

4.5 years after my husband and I began building our first (and thus far only) house, we’re still not done. And as much as having an unfinished house irritates us, we’re also glad we didn’t finish it 4 years ago as planned, because as time goes on and we live in the house, we think of new and better ways to do things. We realize now that if we’d pushed to have the house essentially finished by our initial deadline (a very reasonable 6 months, we thought), the result would have been a house with much less character, soul, and spirit.

It is called construction. It is what we have been telling you. Be patient. Things get back ordered. Things don’t fit. Always happens. People are human. Construction is a messy inexact business that involves many many parties. Never schedule guests for the week you expect to be in. Never schedule them for the first 6 months after you first expect to be in. Expect delays. Building a House 101. It will take another month to be finished. At least.

This is what happens when there is a rush to finish up a job. Things get done wrong, overlooked, etc.

Where are/were your cabinet drawings and specs? Didn’t your designer check when the cabinets came in? Who ordered the cabinets? If a designer does a drawing that calls for a 42-inch range hood opening, shouldn’t s/he also know what cabinets will accommodate this opening??? Or didn’t the cabinet designer know which appliances you had chosen?

How much enjoyment can you get out of being in this house in a few days when you are going to be dealing with workmen coming in an out, plywood floors, missing lighting, and a zillion other things?

Wow, what a macho world view this is. A human steamroller who makes grown people cry so that the owners can get their way. How many people who provide services and material (this is meant to include John) have lost sleep/ are growing ulcers/ have rising blood pressure when better planning, increased patience, and more generosity of spirit would have avoided this situation. Or, are those values too old-fashioned for today and for this house?

Things would be a lot calmer if you hadn’t created that artificial deadline

I keep having the urge to get a plane ticket, fly down there, and saw off the tops of the railing posts so that they are all only slightly above the railings. It would look sooo much better. Now the front stairway looks like a collapsed dock with pilings sticking up.

I am sure that I – like other people who write comments – am at a total loss at this point. What is the point of jerking around all the subs? Easter was last week – and Passover isn’t for a while. There’s no house closing on an old house – no fear of winding up in a hotel. So what’s the rush? I am sure I am not alone in the idea that things should be done right – not rushed. Although I suspect at some point – a lot of people didn’t follow the old adage – measure twice and cut once.

Apart from anything else – you want the subs to be happy. Because when you get around to the punch list – or necessary repairs a year – or two – or ten down the road – you want them to think of you favorably. Not as the absentee jerks who ruined your Easter weekend in 2008. We are still using most of the original subs on our 1996 job – electricians – plumbers – A/C people – etc. – to do maintenance and repairs. We like and trust them – and they like us and know every square inch of our house. We are using our original super to do the odd jobs that my husband and I can’t do (we’re too old to climb on the roof – and not very mechanically inclined). A couple of weeks ago – after a big wind blew a shingle off the house – he came over ASAP because it was supposed to rain the next day.

Concerning particulars – a 42″ hood over a 36″ stove? I will let Susan roll her eyes over that one.

BTW – I don’t mind talk of linens. But if you talk about linens – talk about linens. What kind – where were they bought – etc.? FWIW – I just bought some great towels at Macy’s. They are the Hotel Collection Turkish Towels. They’re on sale now.

And for those of you mid-century fans – the Knoll Studio sale starts 5/1 this year (finally found a chair to finish off the re-doing of my home office). Robyn

So, wait … you’d like to apologize but it’s more important that your busy hostessing schedule launch as planned than it is to make sure that your contractor doesn’t stroke out from the pressure or that several men and women in Florida have crappy work days?

Did you even READ that post you just wrote? Do you realize you just admitted to the world at large that you really don’t care how your whims affect anyone else?

Thanks for this latest posting. Just to counter so many cranky commenters, I want to say that I find it ALL interesting — from the major construction decisions and choices, down to the little details. I can’t believe it’s almost time for you to move in!

Don’t you have to have the city signoff that the building is habitable before you can live in it? When we built our house we had to have some kind of permit from the city building inspector saying it was OK to be lived in.

You may want to make hotel reservations, just in case. I can’t see them giving you an all’s clear if so much is not done. It never hurts to have a back up plan.

I am confused about the occupancy date. A week ago Paul said that they were expecting the certificate of occupancy in early April. So how can A&P be spending this weekend at the house? Am I missing something?

Also, nice job, John. You definitely go above and beyond in taking care of your homeowners! Here’s to a job well done :)

Gotta love this: “the cabinet people gave us cabinets assuming the range would be 36 inches.” Your cabinet order specified the size of the cabinets. If you ordered the wrong cabinets, you can’t blame the manufacturer for shipping them to you.

While my experience is only from remodeling, these sound like typical problems, and, apart from the kitchen cabinets, not big ones at all. You are lucky. You must decide whether the goal is to have the house done the way YOU want it or to have it done by April 1 (and I’m afraid it being April Fools’ Day would indicate which option I think is wiser).

It’s hard to believe that someone overlooked the hood measurment for so long. Glad your getting it solved, same with the sinks – someone is falling short.
Good luck in your house.
We just finshed a major remodeling job a few blocks from you – I think the major thing is being there more when it’s getting worked on. Even though I was 1,500 miles away I made the trip every 3 weeks to keep everything on track.
Good luck getting the rest of the things completed and enjoy your time on the island.

This is my 1st comment although I have been reading this “train wreck” since the beginning. I work for an architecural firm that no longer does residential work because homeowners (such as A&P) take no responsibility and have unrealistic expectations. Every business, including the ones A&P are involved in, needs give and take. I’ve seen a lot of “take” on the part of A&P but the only “give” seems to have come from John. I know I shouldn’t read any more but I can’t help but continue to see how much more selfish they can get.

We are now at rock bottom for all the postings so far. Ironic at some close to the end. You have your contractor who by all accounts has done a great job resorting to threatening to never again work with people unless they get your job done right away.

He has to maintain working relationships I am sure. All of this huffing and puffing for, a largely, fabricated deadline is just pathetic. As people mentioned if you were living in a hotel or some other kind of drop dead deadline looming that is one thing.

What a sorry, sorry, sorry way to start life in a ‘dream house’. And a sorry, sorry, way to end the saga of constructing it.

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They've found an idyllic tiny town in Florida, they've bought a piece of land and now Paul B. Brown and Alison Davis are setting out to build their dream house. How hard can it be, they wonder, even though they live 1,500 miles away, they've never built a home before and they don't know anything about architects, builders, local zoning laws or financing? On this blog for Great Homes, they recount their successes and failures and will chronicle their adventures to come.